If you are just getting started with homeschooling you may have visited online forums where other homeschooling teachers say that they are constantly teaching their children. When you are currently struggling to get that first month’s lesson plans in order, this may seem just a bit intimidating. How do you plan to ensure constant learning for your homeschool students? Isn’t it a bit too much to ask to schedule a lesson every single minute of the day? Well, that’s not exactly what constant learning involves.
Homeschool Learning is Different from Regular School Learning
In a regular school a certain number of fixed skills are taught to the students, while they pick up additional skills at home and in other co curricular activities. School taught skills would include learning to read, write and understanding proper grammar. While home taught skills would include learning to tie shoelaces, making your bed and packing your school bag for the next morning.
With a homeschooling family, most of these formal and informal skills are taught at home. Consider the situation where a homeschool student finishes morning lessons and steps in to the kitchen with the homeschooling parent. Instead of picking up a tray in the cafeteria of a regular school and getting in line for food, the homeschool student gets to pick a plate and help put together their meal. It’s a different skill and it involves learning.
Constant Learning is Simple with Life Skills
There is constant learning for the homeschool student because each day lunch is different. Have them help with meal planning and focus on things they are able to make or assist you in making. This could be a sandwich on Monday, soup on Tuesday, nachos on Wednesday…you get the general idea. In a similar manner the homeschool student learns how to help with chores around the house by learning new skills such as loading the washing machine, using the dryer, folding the laundry, dusting and vacuuming.
They may not seem like much, but trust me they are important life skills that your children will use in the years to come. It is this that homeschooling parents realize is important and teach literally non stop throughout the day to their children in terms of constant learning.
